Tristram Hunt’s definitely not going, Brian Eno definitely is – but it’s Jeremy Corbyn’s planned attendance at Stop the War’s party that has churned up the most fuss. As the pressure group comes back into the spotlight, its chair explains how it needs to adjust – and why airstrikes on Syria are wrong

The morning I sit down for a long chat with Andrew Murray, the chair of the Stop the War coalition, British politics is a mere 36 hours away from what some people would have you believe is one of the most controversial events of 2015.

It is scheduled to happen at a Turkish restaurant near Southwark tube station, and will involve food, the presence of the former Roxy Music member Brian Eno, and music from one Dmitri van Zwanenberg – according to the promotional blurb, a “busker with a yellow violin”. But what has sent certain MPs and journalists into a lather is the joint fact that all the fun is aimed at raising funds for Stop the War, and that the guest of honour is Jeremy Corbyn – until recently the holder of Murray’s role in Stop the War, but now leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition.